Grateful

On Saturday, February 7th J decided to go skiing as a reward for himself after the 20 hours of overtime he had put in. 

At 12:17 that I was on my way home from work when he called. 

"You're going to kill me," was the first thing he said to me. 

He had wiped out on his first run down the hill. Ski patrol had gotten him down the hill, and he was waiting for an ambulance to get there. 

The first responders were pretty sure he had a break in his lower leg. 

I managed to drive myself to my parents' place and then had my dad drive me to the hospital. 

X-Rays confirmed it, J's leg was indeed broken. And not just a little broken. He had a spiral fracture is his tibia and a break in his fibula. The X-ray technician told him it was a "doozy" and everyone who's seen the X-ray since has made a similar comment. 

Post-surgery x-ray. You can see the rod & pins. 

We were transferred to Halifax later that evening for more X-rays and to wait for surgery. J eventually had surgery on Monday afternoon. He had a rod inserted with pins at the knee and ankle. (Gross.) He was released the next day and we started the rehabilitation process, plus the process of applying for EI since he'll be off work for several months. 

It's been quite the struggle. I'm not used to doing everything around the house plus everything for J plus working full-time. The first couple weeks I spent A LOT of time crying and a lot of time praying for strength. 

And you know what? Things are getting better. Slowly, but I'm starting to feel like we're going to make it. My head is above water, I'm getting enough sleep, J is impressing the physiotherapist, and Daisy and I are doing lots of bonding on our daily walks. 

Daisy and I enjoying our evening walk.

When I start getting stressed or overwhelmed I remind myself how much worse it could have been. I could have lost J that day. Or he could have permanently damaged himself. And I am so grateful to still have him by my side. (Even when he's complaining about how bored he is.) I think I've been guilty of taking my husband for granted. Not just all the things he does, but his strength and his presence. Those couple nights without him in the bed beside me were really, really hard. There are a lot of lessons in this situation - and some are easier to take than others - but I'm also grateful for every one of them. 

PS: This was very long, and very ramble-y. Ooops.